Modulation of cell growth is critical to the development and health of organisms. Aberrant growth of cells, i.e., the increase or decrease of cell growth rates, may lead to numerous disease states including metastatic cancers (leading examples of which are breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer and metastatic melanoma) and developmental defects characterized by either increased or decreased mesenchymal cell growth (e.g., craniosynostosis, cleft lip, cleft palate, wound healing, wasting diseases and muscular dystrophies).
Breast cancer and prostate cancers are among the most common human cancers in the United States affecting up to 1 in 8 women and 1 in 6 men, respectively. Tumor metastasis is the major cause of death from these cancers and, while there have been improvements in diagnosis and treatment, it is still unclear what the molecular changes are that are likely to lead to metastasis and tissue invasion. The understanding of such mechanisms would aid in finding compositions and methods for the partial or complete inhibition of metastasis and tumor invasion.
Craniosynostosis is a fairly common disorder occurring in about 1 in 2500 individuals wherein there is a premature fusion of the sutures of the cranium. Children that have this condition often suffer from restricted skull growth resulting in increased pressure on the brain, vision problems and behavioral problems. Surgical intervention is risky and expensive requiring a team of highly trained specialists. As with uncontrolled metastatic growth, the understanding of the underlying causes of under or unregulated non-metastatic cell growth will be instrumental in finding compositions and techniques for the treatment of resulting medical conditions.
As both metastatic cancers and developmental disease states involve the misregulation of cell growth it is possible that both types of conditions may be the result of similar underlying molecular causes. If this is the case then similar therapeutic approaches may be effective for both metastatic cancers and developmental disease states. Therefore, what is needed is the identification of the underlying causes of metastasis and developmental misregulation as well as the development of methods for the modulation of metastatic and mesenchymal cell growth and the screening of agents effective in the modulation of metastatic and mesenchymal cell growth.